This invention relates to a rail system, and more particularly to a rail system having one or more passageways extending therein for the conduction of fluid flow therein to provide ready access at convenient locations to the fluid flow which is particularly useful in hospital environments where fluid flow such as oxygen, air and vacuum are required at various times for medical purposes.
Medical facilities such as doctor's examination rooms, hospital emergency rooms, operating rooms etc. are characterized with a plethora of medical equipment, apparatus, devices and various outlets for supplying access to fluid flow such as: air, oxygen or a vacuum. The latter types of fluid flow are usually provided by individual outlets thereby providing limited access. The problem is in planning the provision for such outlets in the rooms involved, and, of course, the ever changing nature of medical equipment may require modification of the installations to accommodate upgraded or new medical diagnostic equipment and apparatus. The result is that if a room is not planned properly, the outlets, for example, furnishing a fluid flow in the form of a vacuum may not be properly placed thereby requiring long lengths of hoses which may get in the way of the people performing the operations or the examinations. It certainly is not feasible to change the piping or conduit system in the walls or ceilings whenever a change or rearrangement of the medical facilities are made in order to accommodate new or improved medical equipment and/or procedures.
Providing a sufficient number of fluid flow outlets spaced around a particular room may prove prohibitively expensive in piping, and further provides no assurance that the outlets will still be placed in the most convenient location as unforseeable changes may occur in the use and rearrangement of the equipment in the room.